


left behind

by kornevable



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Family, Friendship, Gen, Tumblr: Natsume Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 15:22:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19466752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kornevable/pseuds/kornevable
Summary: Day 3 - role reversal.Natsume Reiko has to deal with the consequences of her grandfather's doing, namely letting youkais barge into her life.





	left behind

“Natsume-sama! Please help us Natsume-sama!”

Two youkais coming from the mountains beyond Yatsuhara are running, making more noise than necessary to attract the attention of the person they've traveled to see. They abruptly stop and bow down, not wasting any time to voice their request.

“Our territory is being attacked by outsiders, please drive them away!”

There is a long silence, sizzling with confusion, then replaced by mild exhaustion. The sigh is heavier in this quiet space.

“Yeah, I'll see what I can do, but no promises. I have other things to do.”

A round calico cat snorts from his perch on a branch, drawn by the commotion that spiked his curiosity, as usual. The youkais lift their heads, an open expression of surprise on their faces that betray their disappointment.

“You...?”

Long pale hair flutters as a hand pushes it back behind an ear, and a slow grin forms on a curled mouth.

“I'm afraid I'm not as gentle as my grandfather.”

* * *

Natsume Reiko leafs through the Book of Friends with inexplicable fascination. Sometimes she'd trace the writings with her fingertips, summoning the image of the youkai who held the pencil or the brush to carefully inscribe their name in something that was beyond their expertise. She tries to imagine each one of them waiting to meet again the human they've given up their freedom to—a lot of them, she learned, don't repay kindness with kindness, and will seek more opportunities to abuse it.

“Surely he knew that youkais aren't friendly,” she complains one day after returning a name and nursing a headache from the incessant chatting of the nearby youkais who won't leave her alone.

“Believe me, I told him over and over he was wasting his time,” Madara huffs, licking cookie crumbs off his paws. “Takashi was a fool.”

Reiko isn't one for sentimentality, and has no experience in detecting the inflection of someone's voice depending on their emotions (she herself can't express them). She still somehow manages to hear unspoken words behind Madara's gruff remark, lodged in his throat and unable to come out because there is no point in releasing them.

Against her will, she laughs.

“I guess he was.”

* * *

“You mean you _wanted_ to become his servant?”

Misuzu's eyes remain unchanged as does his mouth, like he's frozen in a perpetual grin that goes with his high status. His frogs are jumping around Reiko, croaking and being a general nuisance.

“I do not think that 'becoming his servant' was what Takashi aimed at when he asked,” he clarifies with a lilt of mirth. “I simply believed that it was easier to watch over him should he peruse the power he was granted.”

To be honest, Reiko is certain that her grandfather didn't care about the advantages that the Book provided him, and by the look of things, so did Misuzu. There is no way that youkais submit themselves to humans willingly—she can't imagine any of them hand out their name like it's a mere entrance ticket to friendship.

However, that seems to be the case for most of those youkais who smile and joke and reminisce about someone whose life might as well have been nonexistent in their almost eternity.

“He was alright for a man, I suppose,” Hinoe cackles, draping her arm around Reiko's shoulders and bringing her closer, much to the human's disgruntlement. “Fortunately he brought me a cute granddaughter!”

“You are all so weird,” Reiko groans, pushing Hinoe away. “This isn't what I thought I'd get myself involved into when I received the stupid book.”

“Then make your life shorter so I can get it.” Madara swipes at her ankle, and she follows with a harsh nudge with her foot that sends him rolling down.

“I still have some dignity, losing to a cat isn't an option.”

Madara goes on a rant about being magnificent and deserving much more than what he's currently given, so Reiko tunes him out as she sips her juice and eats the berries a youkai gave her as thanks for something that Natsume Takashi most likely did. Surrounded by these creatures she grew to view as a thorn in her side, sharing stories and discussing of what qualifies as foolish like they were her own circle of acquaintances, she can't envision what tomorrow will be made of.

* * *

She's always slept with a weapon of sort next to her pillow to protect herself. It started with a ridiculous toy sword she borrowed from the son of the family she was living with, then a bundle of sticks she collected on the way home, then a soccer ball hard enough to break a wall, and now she grew fond of the baseball bat she found lying next to a sleeping youkai. She never actively went after youkais since _they_ came to her, but the one she followed of her own volition was forced to teach her what they knew about spells and incantations. It was the least they could do after their kind kept harassing her for stupid favors or claiming she would make a delicious meal.

She thought it would stop after meeting Madara, but it only became worse.

Natsume Takashi, her grandfather, were he still alive, would be hearing a piece of her mind for attempting to befriend every single living creature in this world.

Shunned by everyone around him and mocked for his inability to fit into society on top of seeing a world that was invisible to others—Reiko understands he might have left behind the humans altogether to seek comfort in people who wouldn't judge him. She can't wrap her head around his desire to forgive, though.

“Nobody treated him right,” she says to Madara, who feigns disinterest. “A lot of youkais didn't, too.”

Madara is probably just as bad as her at perusing the spectrum of emotions, if not worse; the face of a cat does limit his possibilities, but Reiko is certain that there is much he doesn't tell.

“You understand why he was so stubborn about meeting youkais, don't you?” he retorts with that knowing look she tends to avoid glancing at. “Well, I'm assuming you're smarter than he was.”

You're awfully gentle even if you're insulting him, Reiko wants to say, but just like how she can't admit she still fears she'll wake up from this reality and go back to a life of misery, she can't point out the obvious aching in her friend's heart.

Youkais who come to her thinking she will solve all their problems like her grandfather did often end up bruised and nursing a wounded pride, after they lose to her little games. She much prefers seeing what they are made of before deciding if they are worth her time, and if they deserve having their names back.

(Whether Takashi knew the nature of the contracts remains a mystery, but either way she can't shake off the feeling of loneliness whenever she so much as lays eyes on the Book of Friends.)

“I really don't understand his way of thinking,” she mutters.

Madara lets out an ugly laugh. “Nobody did.”

* * *

She chases after a youkai to retrieve a trinket they stole from a weaker spirit, and when she does catch up to them she swings her bat and whacks them on the head. The effect is immediate and the thief collapses, whining and complaining about the great power of the holder of the Book of Friends, and Reiko simply chuckles.

“Yeah, we're pretty strong in my family.”

She doesn't ask permission to get back what she came looking for as she plucks it right from the youkai's hands, then turns around to leave. Madara seems to appear from thin air for the only purpose of mocking her.

“You sure put a lot of effort in this one, for someone who doesn't like being used.”

She waves a hand, having learned by now that rising to Madara's baits aren't really productive for either of them.

“I needed the exercise anyway.”

Reiko looks at the cloudy sky, feeling the first drops of rain fall on her nose. She catches movement on her left, and sees the youkai who asked for her help timidly extending a hand. Her lips automatically curl into a soft smile, as she gives the item back.

“Thank you, Natsume-sama,” the youkai bows. “I have one more favor to ask.”

“Your name is in the Book, right?”

There is something particularly strange in taking the name of such a fragile-looking youkai, who probably doesn't even interact much with other people. Takashi has collected names without discrimination, like he expected them all to accept their predicament or the friendship they were offered.

Reiko is different.

“I'll hurry up. I don't want to go home too late.”

Being drenched is a feeling she despises above all (bringing an umbrella wasn't always a possibility), but feeling the trained eyes of Touko-san looking for any signs of sickness never gets easier. Reiko didn't know that someone could be filled with so much love to give, especially for someone like her, who terrorized invisible monsters and drove away those who everyone pretended not to see.

She walks under the safety of a tree's leaves and pulls out the Book of Friends, closing her eyes. The pages flicker and turn, a single one standing out for her to cradle and bestow. She sees warmth, she sees mischievousness, she sees life; she sees everything through the eyes of someone who could have helped. She grasps what loneliness being washed away feels like.

“I'm giving your name back. Accept it.”

She might never understand what her grandfather wanted to do, by leaving his memory everywhere he went. Madara might never forget the gaping hole he can't fill with food, however hard he tries. The youkais might never figure out the amiable behavior a human showed them.

Reiko opens her eyes to the universe of kindness Natsume Takashi has left her, for her to find her way and discover the hidden side of a world she's always hated.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, thank you for reading! I could have written more about Reiko & the Fujiwaras's relationship, but I figured that focusing on the youkai part was more important to show what differences there could be in a role reversal. Maybe in another fic!
> 
> // [twitter](https://twitter.com/kornetable)


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